The Golden Mask 5+ detector – my first impressions (a review of the new product for 2017!)

Have you heard about the new metal detector Golden Mask 5+? This Improved model carries the best of the Golden Mask 5, but with some key changes. I was naturally interested to see what this detector is, after all, the Bulgarian manufacturer have promised to increase depth by as much as 50% for small and medium-sized targets, which is a pretty serious statement!

In the end, I ordered a Golden Mask 5+ in Bulgaria. If you are from EU and you need to buy a Mask, it is better to buy it there, the prices are nice and comfortable. A link to the shop “Klondike” in Bulgaria. It costed a little more than 500 Euros.

What kit did I take?

I took the full kit (there is a LITE without the headphones, charging and batteries) — detector Golden Mask 5+, with coil 9″ Spider, with wireless headphones, 10 chargeable batteries at 2900 mAh. A nice bonus is the battery in the Mask can be recharged simply by plugging the charging of the battery compartment of the detector. No need to pull out the batteries and charge them separately.

The back of the battery compartment. Visible in the middle is the plug for charging the battery, right under the rubber cap is the hidden headphone Jack, and on the left there is a small toggle switch to switch modes: SP Speaker, the detector will transmit the sound to the speaker and everyone around will hear you and WS — wireless mode, connection to the headphones.

A big bonus that I immediately noticed at the metal detector Golden Mask 5+ Is the stem. It differs from most of the rods on other detectors by the fact that it is made entirely out of carbon fibre, this means that it is very lightweight and durable, the locks are screwed very easily, which is also very convenient, and the assembled detector is very compact and will easily fit into a mid-size backpack. I’d say it is so compact it can compete with the Deus.

The menu and settings

The First thing that catches the eye on the detector unit is the number of buttons. I am used to minimalism, for example, two buttons on the Fisher F75, four buttons on the Makro Racer 2. At the Golden Mask 5+, we see 9 buttons! And each button has its purpose. It is simple and clear — to enable, simply press and hold button ON OFF.

You will see a small image backdrop — the image of the world (the continents on the map, it is strange that Bulgaria is not in the first place and not in the center).

Then you will see the famous Golden mask and the inscription of the Golden Mask. Interesting idea, not all the manufacturer will come up with an original and memorable Intro. But it is not by this we value the metal detectors, and their search quality.

What information gives the screen us? It shows almost all the current settings of the metal detector — selected frequency (the Golden Mask 5+ can operate at two frequencies: 8 kHz and 18 kHz), ground balance, threshold tone, gain, battery and most importantly — the current settings of discrimination and VDI indicator.

In the 21st century almost all metal detectors have the ability to adjust the volume. A metal detector without a volume adjustment is out of date. In Golden Mask 5+ you also have a button for that. Selecting any of the settings is done by pressing ENTER (enter) and + or -.

Very simple and practical. Just press plus or minus and set the desired volume. At volume 0, the device becomes very quiet, but the volume does not disappear! Interesting feature.

Frequency selection occurs when pressing the upper left button, which shows the coil wave signal and a small icon at the top. What kind of icon is this? As mentioned above — the detector has two frequencies, so we can choose between 8 kHz (good for WW2 and relics detecting) or 18 kHz (good for searching on the beach).

Setting discrimination is Selected by the MODE button DISC / DISC LEVEL. It is quite simple, the only thing left is to try these settings in the field.

The Interface in all cases are the same and not much different from other settings. The same values, numbers and choice. In most cases, it is the most user-friendly option.

Ground balance can be set automatically or manually. The choice comes when you click on the button at the bottom left — GB (Ground Balance).

The choice of basic settings appears when pressing PWR button (Power?) at the top right. Here we can set the parameters of Amplification (Gain), Threshold (Thr) and the PowerBox is what improved the Golden Mask 5.

Setting this option increases the depth by 30%, setting a kind of “Turbo”, as the manufacturer says.

Video about metal detector Golden Mask 5+

A video about the settings, for a better visual memory.

Comparison of Golden Mask Golden Mask 5 and 5+ with air tests.

An interesting detector. Can’t wait to start the season, to finally go to the fields and forests and to dig up some interesting finds this year. Somewhere waiting for me is my gold!

Good luck to everyone!

Liked the review? Looking for more interesting reviews? We gather them all here!

13 Responses

Had to send my golden mask 5+ back this week to Bulgaria only used it once on dry sand hot sunny day the main screen kept misting up after 20 mins
got so bad could not read screen!! sent number off photos off this to them when thy got it back thy said there was no problem and i was lying
some customer services put me right off buying another one

In my experience, when the outside temperature increases by a few degrees then internal condensation mists up the screen, i ran this past the dealer in Bulgaria who assured me that it was normal, this occurs fairly frequently but I’m happy to say has not yet affected control.
Set to run 18Khz on low power with no gain and at mid depth using a 9″ coil the batteries last about 8 hours and with a 10.5″ coil about 6 hours tops, i supplement this by carrying the battery pack from my spare gm4 Pro.
The condensation and high power consumption are the only drawbacks with this machine and in my opinion a small price to pay for the overall performance.
The 5+ is an excellent detector which registers signals missed by other more expensive makes, fact.
Believe me you will not be disappointed once you learn how to use it.

i had the same misting up problem and returned t Bulgaria where they fitted some silica gel packs.unfortunately this seemed to have disturbed the on/off switch as when it was turned off, after 15-20 minutes it turned itself back on, wasting batteries.
then it would only turn back on by removing and reinserting the batteries I returned it yet again the Bulgaria where they exchanged it for a new machine
watch this space when i go out into a fields again !!!!.